Out of Time
by TheWitchQueen
Summary: Remus is looking forward to his last year at Hogwarts, and even though he knows it'll be no easier than the previous years, some facts are going to make this the toughest.. Eventual RemusLily
1. Back to Hogwarts

Thanks to my wonderful beta readers Sirius and TheQueenofNight who've helped me so much with this!

DISCLAIMER: If you see anything familiar it means I don't own it!

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Remus stared from the crowd of students chatting with each other, happy to see their friends again after a long summer, to parents saying goodbye and animals running around on the platform 9 ¾, and finally his gaze fell on the scarlet red train.

Steam from the engine drifted over everyone and it was just a few minutes left before it would be on the way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

He drew his breath, gave his trunk to the conductor and aimed for one of the doors. How he was looking forward to see Hogwarts and his friends again. Two months away from either equalized with torture.

He found himself a nice compartment, already occupied by two other boys who were chatting along. Both were rather tall and handsome with black hair, one of them was wearing specs and he also had messier hair than the other boy.

Neither had noticed Remus before he knocked silently on the door. They perked up at the sound.

"Remus!" the boy with specs exclaimed, leaped to his feet and over to Remus in less than two seconds and embraced him.

"Hey guys!" Remus smiled at the bespectacled boy and then at the boy sitting by the window.

"Hey Moony." Sirius nodded to Remus. "So how was France, guys?" he asked the two other boys as they sat down.

"Excellent! Never seen so many strange folks in my life though. Sheesh! You'd think they'd never heard how to have fun! But the girls! They were everywhere, I tell you!" James got a dreamy look on his face while Sirius nodded in agreement. Remus rolled his eyes and James soon caught up and straightened himself.

"He's right though, Moony. It was great." Then suddenly grinning, Sirius continued,

"I've got great news though, Remus!" Remus looked at him questioningly.

"Drum roll please." His grin now threatened to split his face in two. Remus continued to look at him slightly confused now.

"I've got myself a house!" he exclaimed and Remus's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"What! Are you serious? Where in the Forbidden Forest did you get gold to buy that?" he asked.

"Well, I haven't gotten it yet, but I will before this year is over. Remember my Uncle Alphard who died in April?" Remus nodded.

"Well, he left me a bit of gold. I'm going to use them to get a decent place to live after Hogwarts. No way am I going back home again, ever."

Sirius had run away from home last summer, after his parents, brother and the house-elf had almost driven him nuts with their pureblood-nonsense. He had thought of nowhere else to go than the Potters house, and they had been willing to let him stay over the summer.

"Have you seen your relatives since last year?" Remus asked quietly. Sirius just shook his head.

"Not unless you count the fact that I have to see my brother at school all the time." He sighed and straightened himself. Remus remembered Regulus Black clearly. He was a few years younger than Sirius, but still Mr and Mrs Black were quite clear that Regulus was a much better son than Sirius.

"So what about you, Remus? Been looking at the girls just like our Romeo here, or have you spent your time a little more useful?" Sirius chuckled at James and Remus nodded.

"I've visited historical grounds here in England, and I also went to Ireland for a week, to study the old Celtic and gothic arts of magic they have there." Remus smiled at the memories. Visiting Ireland had in fact been great, and he'd learned a lot from it.

"Did you guys get the time to vote this summer?" James asked, meaning the Election for a new Minister for Magic. Both Sirius and Remus shook their heads.

"Me neither, but I heard rumours that we will get the chance to do it on our first Hogsmead weekend this year. I mean, I'm in no hurry. The Election is not to be held until August next year. Not that it will change my mind having that amount of time though…" James continued.

"They've left us with some good choices, don't you think?" Remus's voice was full of sarcasm. "None of them are better than the other, when it comes to it. They just have different points of view, I think. Why are there never any good choices? Where are all the guys like Dumbledore? He'd do a great job as Minister." Remus muttered.

"They all have better things to do than to try to lead a Ministry bound to go the dogs anyway." Sirius sat watching James building a card-house.

"You're the right one to talk about dogs." Coughed James. The next second he jumped in his seat, yelling, making Remus look up from his copy of _The Quibbler_. "Hey! What did you do that for?" He stared at Sirius who sat with his wand out, pointing it at where the card-house had once been. Now the cards were flying around the compartment, and the bishops, queens and kings were laughing at James who looked thunderstruck.

"Sorry. You know how dogs can have a bad temper." Chuckled Sirius and stuck his wand inside his robes again.

"Yeah, and you know what they do with mad dogs.." muttered James, who had now begun to catch all the flying cards, but could hardly reach any as they were having fun flying around and didn't want to get showed back down into a package. Remus continued reading his magazine and Sirius was looking over his shoulder to see what it said.

"Isn't that Hogwarts' Divination teacher? What's her name? Trelawney? " he said pointing at a rather tall and skinny witch with long, wavy red hair. She had about 4 or 5 shawls hanging around her shoulders and massive earrings. She did remind them alarmingly of their Divination Teacher.

Remus shook his head. "No, that there would be her mother, Cassandra Trelawney. She was a gifted Seer. Apparently she didn't give her daughter that gift." He sighed turning the page. Their divination teacher was, in their opinion, a completely mad woman who thought herself above all the other teachers at Hogwarts because she could apparently See. Remus doubted she'd ever be able to tell them the right weather forecast. Her daughter Sybill wasn't any better. She had been 19 when she visited the school, " just to see how things were done in school" as she had told them. Apparently she didn't think school was the place for _her_ to learn new stuff.

Sirius and Remus looked up and James stared down at the door when an older lady knocked on it, pushing a large trolley full of sweets and drinks. "Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked. Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius. She'd been saying the exact same words for 7 years now. Wondering if it was the only line she knew, he nodded.

"Yes please, I'd have a Chocolate Frog and a pack of Cauldron Cakes." He got 17 Knuts up and gave it to the lady, who handed him the sweets. James gave up his card-hunt and got down from the seats he was balancing on. Sirius got some Liquorice Wands and Bertie Bots Every Flavour Beans to go with the Frogs.

As the two others started talking about France again, Remus leant back and chewed on a cake.

This would be his 7th and last year at Hogwarts. He sighed, but James and Sirius didn't notice. They were his very best friends and he couldn't think of living a life without them. What would he do when this year was over and done with?

Together, they and another boy called Peter had explored almost every inch of Hogwarts' grounds, in and outside the castle. The Marauders they called themselves. He smiled as he remembered some of their exploits. They had been sneaking off into the Forbidden Forrest more times than they could count, and playing some rather nasty tricks on the Slytherins were weekly, if not daily happenings. Many a night had they spent planning their next event.

But in the middle of pranks and adventures, they were all hard studiers. Well, all except Peter. He didn't pick up things as quick as they did, but they always helped him out the best way they could.

Remus remembered when they first met. Peter had been hanging around them for ages, having no other real friends. In the end, they had kindly asked him to join them on a prank aimed at a group of Slytherins, and after that he had stayed with them, growing into the group. And he had proved to be a funny guy, although not very bright.

Remus eyed the two boys unnoticeably. They really were great friends. Friends he'd never imagine he'd get. It wasn't his call to be that lucky.

He got out of his thoughts as his watch made a beeping noise. The two others looked at him.

"I've got to go to a meeting in the front carriage. For the Prefects and Head students." He continued, as the others didn't catch what he was talking about at first.

"Ah, of course. We'll see you later then." They said and continued their chat.

He walked up between the rows of compartments, all packed with students from all years and houses. Some first-years looked rather scared and nervous, as well as excited. A few students passed him in the hallway.

"Hello Remus. Had a nice holiday?" his fellow Gryffindor student Frank Longbottom had walked out from a compartment filled with Gryffindors. "Very nice, thank you Frank. What about yourself?" he asked. "Splendid! Alice and I had a nice few weeks in Costa Del Sol, or whatever it's called. Down south, you know." He said with a grin.

"That sounds wonderful! But listen Frank, not to seem rude or anything, but I have a meeting in 5 minutes. I'll talk to you some other time." Remus excused himself and carried on. A few seconds later however, he found himself stopping dead on his track again.

A girl with long, reddish hair was walking in front of him, apparently aiming for the same place as him.

"Hey Lily!" he called out as he quickened his strides. She stopped and turned around to see who had called and smiled as she saw him.

"Hi Remus." She said as he caught up with her. They gave each other a quick hug and continued to walk.

"How are you?" he asked her.

"I'm a fine thanks! Had a lovely holiday in Scotland with my parents. Visited my sister as well though. At that summer school for muggles." She frowned at the memory.

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Petunia? Why would you visit her?"

Lily was Muggleborn, but her parents were very proud of her being a witch. Her sister however hated her and he knew that if she could, Petunia would never have anything to do with Lily ever again.

"I don't know. Mum and dad know she hates when I visit her. Oh well, I don't care. Won't see her for another year anyway.

How was Ireland?" she asked him as they passed a gang of younger Slytherins who all gave them dirty looks.

"It was wonderful. I visited an Irish Wizarding school, and you wouldn't imagine how different it is. They don't start transfiguration before their 5th year, and they go 9 years instead of 7! And you should see the school grounds…"

At this point they had reached the front compartment and entered. The others were already there; two Prefects from each house.

He and Lily sat down next to the two Ravenclaw Prefects. They continued to talk about their holidays until Professor McGonagall walked in at precisely 12 o clock. Everyone went silent as she greeted them.

After a while of speech from her to the new Prefects about their duties and responsibilities, she turned towards Remus and Lily. "..and this is our new Head Students, Mr Lupin and Miss Evans. They are both from Gryffindor and I guess you know them fairly well, as they've both been Prefects for 2 years already."

All except the two Slytherin Prefects smiled and one of the Hufflepuff prefects gave them the thumbs-up. Instead, one of the Slytherin Prefects, a rather pale boy with dark hair and a hollow face raised his hand.

"Yes, Nott?" McGonagall asked, turning towards the 5th year boy.

"How come there are two _Gryffindors_ being Head Students?" he asked sarcastically, nodding towards Lily and Remus.

"That is because Lupin and Evans both received more 'O's on their OWLs than anyone, and also did a wonderful job as Prefects the two previous years." She spoke in a voice that made no room for further comments. "And compared to other students, they are not notorious rule breakers." She continued, beaming down at Remus and Lily. Remus avoided her eyes, smiling slightly for himself. As McGonagall started talking about the Prefects as role models, Remus cast a glance over at the boy called Nott, who scowled back. Remus did not wince. He was not very pleased by the authority's choice of Slytherin Prefects, but on the other hand, none of the others from that house was very well suited for the job either. If it had been up to him, there wouldn't be any Slytherin Prefects at all.

He looked back at McGonagall as she continued to speak.

"You now know what to do and.." at this point she turned to the Slytherins "..what not to do. Good luck!"

Everyone got up and left the compartment. When Lily and Remus got out, they saw Nott and the other Slytherin Prefect stand a few strides from the compartment door, waiting for someone. As they walked past, Nott and the other boy grabbed Remus and Lily's shoulders and held them back. Addressing Remus, Nott narrowed his eyes threateningly and sneered, "You will pay for your Head-boy title, Loony. Snape should've gotten it rather than you and that filthy Mudblood you hang out with." Nott cast a side-glance at Lily, whose face had become as red as her hair with anger.

"Snape wouldn't have got this job even if he was alone at school. Watch your mouth, or you'll know about it." She hissed, before the boy who still held her spoke, "Don't you think that you can come and boss us around, miss _Evans_." the other boy's voice was shrill. He was taller than Lily, even though he was 2 years younger than her.

"Watch me!" she whispered and before Remus had had time to react, Lily had smacked the tall boy right across his face with a flat hand. Both Remus and Nott stared at Lily and the other boy, both taken by surprise.

The boy released Lily's shoulder and swayed for a split second before looking at her in fury. "That will be reported to my Head of House.." He said while trying to get his senses back but Lily broke him off. "There is no rule saying that a girl can't defend herself when attacked by two boys. You two better get out of my sight this instant or I'll have to report that the two newly recruited Slytherin Prefects forgot their duties in less than five minutes." She said in a mock serious voice.

Nott had let go of Remus who stood thunderstruck watching Lily handling the situation perfectly alone.

"Let's go, Avery. Or she'll explode, giving us a hell lot of stuff to explain." He said, grabbing the tall boy and they walked away and in to a compartment on the left.

"How can they choose such people as Prefects?" hissed Lily, watching their backs and so did Remus, who just shook his head. "No idea. Come, let's go."

"James and Sirius are there, I reckon?" she asked as they reached Remus's compartment.

"Uhm, yeah, they are. Why?" Remus said, as he grabbed the doorknob, but didn't open it.

Lily hesitated for a second. "Well, cause I'd ask to join you if they weren't." Remus looked down, slightly embarrassed. He knew Lily didn't have much left over for Sirius and James, as they had a too big love for pranks and jokes, which Lily didn't really like.

Remus also had a feeling that she was sick of James's constant tries to get her to go out with him.

"It's ok. I'll see you at school later." She walked away and gave a short wave before Remus had the chance to say anything.

He opened the door slowly and saw the two others playing Exploding Snap.

"Hey, you're back. How was the meeting?" asked Sirius. "Was that Lily you were talking to out there?" asked James.

Remus sat down. "Yes, I'm back, and yes, that was Lily. The meeting went fine, except for the two Slytherin Prefects being jerks." He told them about what had happened in the hallway. By the time he was finished, both the others had forgotten the Exploding Snap and it reminded them by exploding and sending the cards flying all over the place again, but they took no notice this time.

Sirius raised his eyebrows when Remus finished. "Seriously? Two 5th year Prefects took on the Head Boy and Girl?" he turned to James. "What do you reckon? A Breakfast Jinx around the Slytherin table tomorrow?" he made an angry gesture as he catched a flying diamond 10 and smacked it to the table.

Remus broke in before James got the chance to answer. Holding up his hand he addressed them both.

"Just forget it, ok? We don't need to fuzz it all up. They'll be taken care of if they do anything like that again, you mark my word." Remus said reassuringly to the others.

"Problems aside, what were you talking to Lily about out there?" asked James. Remus had waited for that question.

"Just our Head Student duties." He said plainly, not wanting to go into more details. He had found himself getting annoyed every time James mentioned Lily or asked about her whereabouts.

James and Sirius started to talk about Quidditch after a few moments of silence. Sirius was a Beater and James was the Quidditch Captain and Seeker on the Gryffindor Team. James's favourite team was the Montrose Magpies, and he had in fact been asked to join their team when he was finished at Hogwarts. Remus enjoyed playing Quidditch, but rather on a hobby basis than actually playing serious matches. He had refused to become the new Gryffindor Chaser last year. He didn't have too much interest of getting bones and whatnot broken as a player. Also, he knew that being on the team required constant training sessions, and he wouldn't be able to attend all of them. It was unlikely that James as a Captain would have any objections to that, and neither would Sirius, but the rest of the team would and Remus didn't want any more special treatment than he was already getting.

It was dark when everyone got out at Hogsmead Station. Remus saw a bunch of first years gathering around Hagrid, a gigantic man. He was twice their size and more with a dark moleskin coat and an impressive amount of hair and beard.

"This way, firs' yers, come now, follo' me! Watch the steps down here.." he shouted as all the kids followed him down a narrow path towards the now very dark late.

Remus and the others went the opposite way. Those above first year were transported to the castle in carriages, all of them seemingly pulled by nothing but thin air. Not many knew that it was in fact invisible creatures pulling them. Or, invisible to all those who had not yet witnessed death. Remus shuddered slightly at the sight of the Thestrals.

He got into a carriage together with James, Sirius and now Peter.

"Hi Peter. Didn't see you on the train. Had a nice summer?" Remus asked. Peter just nodded. Remus looked from him to James and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Silencing spell." Muttered James.

"By a gang of Slytherins. I think we might consider that breakfast-jinx after all, James." Sirius nodded towards Peter.

Remus frowned and looked out of the carriage window at all the other carriages. It wasn't always easy to be friends with the school's worst pranksters and at the same time try to make sure that nobody broke any rules in his presence. He kept staring out of the window as he muttered briskly, "You guys know you're giving me a hard time, right?"

The others looked at him, taking a second before it dawned for them.

"Sorry mate. You're absolutely right of course.." James looked down and Sirius nodded, but Remus saw the disappointment in their faces and felt a bit guilty. After all, their pranks were what had brought the four of them together in the first place.

"Listen.." he said, "what if… what if I didn't hear about this jinx?" They looked up.

"Deal! But does this mean that you can't join our pranks anymore?" Sirius asked seriously. Remus shook his head violently.

"No way! But you guys must restrain yourself from planning things in public when I'm around, cause I'm not supposed to know about this, remember?" James, Sirius and Peter grinned happily, making Remus smiled weakly, hating the fact that he had once again given in for pressure.


	2. Electricity

Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers and my lovely beta reader Sirius! Please keep reviewing!

DISCLAIMER: If you see anything familiar it means I don't own it!

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"Look! They've announced the first Hogsmeade Weekend already. I thought that wasn't supposed to be until October?"

Peter was more or less jumping up and down, but whether it was out of excitement or because he tried to read the note on the board, Remus couldn't tell. "I don't mind it being this early though. I could use some more sweets," he continued, receiving a curious look from Sirius.

"Since when did we need a Hogsmeade Weekend to get ourselves a decent load of sweets?" he asked pointing at the little piece of parchment James had taken out of his pocket. Peter blushed and tried to think of an excuse.

"Of course I know! But I just thought I'd… I'd sound eager so that nobody would turn suspicious."

Remus and James exchanged looks but Sirius just turned and stared into the Common Room.

"Peter… There's nobody in the room except us."

Peter turned an even darker shade of crimson as Remus, sensing a tease-session coming up, quickly walked over to the portrait hole. This was certainly not the time for another round of mocking him. He was nervous enough as it was, having to face the girls in their year. They weren't exactly nice to him, as they thought he belonged more in Hufflepuff than in Gryffindor. Remus couldn't always blame them, but he thought that at least his friends should stay on his side. But of course, Sirius and James had always been very popular at school. Nobody, except the Slytherins, dared say a bad word to or about them, so how could they know how it was?

"Come on, guys. Breakfast.!

Remus sat down next to Lily at the breakfast table, receiving a nasty glare from James, who sat two seats down at the opposite side of the table. After everyone had gotten hands on some food, Sirius and James started discussing the never-ending subject of Quidditch and Peter did what he did best: stared around the Great Hall. Lily and Remus had gotten out their timetables and were trying to figure a schedule for patrolling the corridors in between lessons and homework.

"Muggle Studies first class on Mondays. How nice," Remus muttered sarcastically and made a face. Lily nodded and read the rest of the timetable.

"How about this one, we've got Double Potions later today and the same at 8 tomorrow morning. I have a bad feeling we'll be getting a nasty bit of homework on Mondays from now on. I guess we'll have to make arrangements with the prefects to patrol on Mondays then." Remus nodded and began discussing their Head-student duties, as they were both insecure about how strict they should be.

"I say we don't allow anything we wouldn't have done ourselves. What do you reckon?" Remus asked as he painted his toast red with raspberry jam.

"I reckon that you wouldn't be able to hit down on any crimes at all, if we go by that rule. Would you pass me the sugar please?" Lily nodded towards the sugar bowl further down the table. It was too far away for Remus to reach.

"James, could you pass the sugar?"

James looked at Remus' toast with a heavy load of jam. "You're going to put sugar on top of that?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Who said the sugar was for me? Pass it already, will you?"

James looked past Remus to Lily, who was watching the little argument. "Of course!" James got up from his seat and grabbed the sugar bowl before walking past Peter and Sirius, who both looked at him curiously, and stopped at the opposite side of Lily.  
"Here you are, gorgeous. It's not as sweet as you, but I hope it'll do." Remus covered his eyes with his hand and grabbed his wand under the table at the same time, and as James bowed, giving the sugar bowl to Lily, Remus lifted his wand and muttered a spell, making the sugar bowl fly out of James's hand, landing on Lily's lap. Remus chuckled, but Sirius had found this remarkably funny and doubled over in fits of laughter. For a split second James looked mortified, while Lily got out her wand and cleaned away the sugar with a spell. She tried to remain somewhat unaffected, but Remus could tell from the tiny ghost of a smile on her face that she too had found it quite amusing.

"I'm very sorry, m'dear. I hope it won't leave a stain?" James asked, his voice a little embarrassed this time.

"It's okay, it's only sugar," Lily answered. James nodded and returned to his seat.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, was today's entertainment by our Romeo!" Sirius proclaimed and received a short applause from those sitting around, making James smile triumphantly again. Lily rolled her eyes and Remus hid his face again. James always managed to pull himself out of the dirt somehow, or at least with some help from Sirius.

Lily got up from her seat. "Coming, Remus?" she asked and started to walk down towards the doors. He emptied his glass of pumpkin juice and got up.

"Where are you guys going?" James asked, looking slightly alarmed about the fact that his best friend was walking away with the girl of his dreams.

"Muggle Studies," Remus replied and, seeing how James relaxed at these words, he continued. "Seriously, Prongs. Leave her alone for a bit."

Remus hadn't even finished his sentence before James had started talking to Sirius again. He gave up and left the remaining Marauders alone. He'd tried to talk James out of tracking Lily's footsteps before, but James always pretended he hadn't heard a word of it. Remus knew he shouldn't feel like it, but the fact was that James' attitude towards Lily annoyed him quite a bit. He knew it shouldn't, after all James was one of his best friends, but Lily was a good friend too and if not for his sake, he wished James would stop for hers. He always felt bad for thinking this way, but he hated how Lily didn't just brush of James's attempts on getting her to go out with him. First of all, it reminded him about the fact that he himself wasn't brave enough to ask her something like that, but also it made him wonder whether or not she actually liked the attention he was giving her.

He caught up with Lily outside the Hall and they headed towards the third floor and Muggle Studies classroom. "Sorry," he said as they started to walk along the corridors.

"Quite okay. Talking James out of things, were you?" she asked. Remus looked curiously at her. "I know you better than you think," she grinned and Remus laughed.

Once inside, they parted and sat down by their desks on opposite sides of the square classroom. Today they were going through the use of electricity and different things using it. He looked around at his fellow students. Arthur Weasley seemed as interested as he always did in Muggle Studies, writing down every single word uttered by Professor Norman, an elderly wizard who had married a Muggle and moved to a Muggle town at the age of 20. Now that he was around his hundreds and his wife had passed away years ago, he had started teaching at Hogwarts. He was very much like Professor Binns, the ancient ghost teaching History of Magic.

Remus's gaze turned to Lily. She was writing notes from the blackboard and didn't cast as much as a side-glance his way. As he watched her, the curious expression from earlier came back on his face. What had she meant by those words in the hall? How much did she know, exactly? Apparently she knew his way of reactions. Why wouldn't she have managed to figure out his thoughts as well, such a clever witch as she was? For all he knew, she could've figured things out years ago.

He looked down at his empty piece of parchment. _Stop it, Moony. Stop it right now. Never going to happen. Don't think about it, or you'll have grey hairs before you're 30._

A few seconds later he glanced back at her. She was still writing and every now and then tucking strands of fiery red hair behind her ear, only to have to do it again a few seconds later as they weren't long enough to stay in place. The rest of her long, wavy hair stayed perfectly where it was supposed to; trailing down her back, almost to the waist. Despite promising himself not to think of her that way, he had to admit that it looked very touchable.

_Now you're doing it again. Concentrate on the electricity, not on the girl. _Having said that quietly to himself, he started wondering if there was or ever could be any electricity at all between him and Lily…

"I can't do this stuff. It's too damn complicated and I just don't understand any of it."

Lily slumped down in one of the huge, red comfy chairs by the Gryffindor fireplace. It was afternoon and she and Remus had just finished an Arithmancy session, their last class of the day. Outside the September night was cold and dark, the moon almost invisible. _And thank God for that_, Remus thought.

The common room was empty and the only source of light came from the fire, which illuminated the room in a golden colour, leaving the corners pitch black, almost as if everything outside that golden light belonged to another world.

He sat down in the opposite chair of Lily and got out his notes so he could start on the homework: "Describe how Transfiguration and Divination affected the teaching and understanding of Arithmancy in the 17th century."

"Yeah, it's a hard nut to crack if you haven't got the basics of it, and even then…" his voice trailed off as he noticed the sad look on her face. The flames from the fireplace mirrored in her emerald eyes, the dark red colour the light had given her hair, and the golden shade of her exposed skin; her face, her arms below the sleeves which were rolled up to her elbows…

_Get to the point of staring at her, Moony._

"Hey, listen, I think I've got it. How about I tutor you a few times until you get the hang of it?" he suggested, but Lily shook her head, her hair rustling like autumn leaves in the wind.

"I don't want to be another problem for you, Remus. You've got enough to do already without having to teach me as well. I'll just have to work harder, that's all." She got her books and parchments out of her backpack and stared at the little amount of notes she had written. Remus nodded reluctantly and began his homework, but every so often he looked up and noticed how Lily's piece of parchment remained blank.

After an hour, Remus was done, but Lily had gotten no further than writing: "Transfiguration and Divination affected Arithmancy in…" and she was looking more and more desperate every minute. He collected his notes, got up and sat down next to her.

"Here. I'll help you out with this one, but we'll start with the basics in your first lesson." He said this with a concerned yet stern tone of voice, but Lily didn't say a word. "Lil, I'd rather have a stressful schedule than see you fail. I really don't mind helping you, okay?"

As he waited for an answer he couldn't stop himself from brushing a few strands of hair behind her left ear, and for once they remained in place. For a second he thought he could see a smile develop in the corner of her mouth, but if it was there, it disappeared before he could've been sure about it.

She sighed. "If you're absolutely, one hundred percent sure…" she began but Remus broke her off. "Totally. Now let's begin on this piece of crap...ehm...homework!"

Lily laughed. "That's what it is! A crappy piece of homework."

It didn't take long for her to finish, as he had decided to help her quite a bit now and explain the content another time when it was not almost twelve o'clock on a Monday night. The fire had gone out as he stretched in his seat and yawned. "There. I think Professor Vector should be satisfied with that."

Lily nodded. "I hope so."

Sensing that they were both incredibly tired after their first day back at school, Remus got up and moved to the stairs toward his dorm.

"Remus?"

He turned around at the sound and saw that Lily had stopped packing away her stuff. "Yeah?" he asked in an as natural voice as possible.

"Thanks. A lot." She smiled a weak smile.

"What're friends for?" he smiled back at her before continuing up the dark stairs.


	3. Recklessness

AN: Finally the third chapter! It's taken forever and for that I'm truly sorry! To all who reviewed my first two chapters; Thanks so much for lovely words! Thanks to my beta readers Amanda and Sirius for being wonderfully cooperative with this chapter! Oh, and btw, the editing thing here at fanfiction . net is being a total ass and won't edit the document like I want it to, so I'm afraid the paragraphs are a bit messed up. If anyone has a good idea on how to fix this, please leave a comment!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. Sadly. I wish I did though. I don't make any money either. So please don't sue.

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The following few weeks were filled with studying, sleeping and more studying. Remus had heard many stories about how the seventh year was supposed to be, each story more unlikely than the other, but all the same, he'd been prepared to work hard anyway. It was harder for the other three guys.

For Sirius and James it meant less time for Quidditch practices and pranks, and for Peter because he wouldn't get time to do anything but studying this year. Or so he said.

Remus had had very little time to talk to Lily, the only chances he'd gotten was before and after Muggle Studies and whenever they were discussing Head Student duties. In one way he thought this was just as well.

The Great Hall was almost empty as he and Peter came down for breakfast one day in late September. br Sirius and James had left the Common room ages before himself, they always did that before matches, to discuss the last minute-tactics or whatever.

"How's the mood, guys?" Remus looked at the two boys as they sat down next to them. It was only another half hour before the first Quidditch game of the season and the team had quite a few new members. James shook his head over his half-eaten piece of toast. "Not good." he said.

"Dreadful." Sirius corrected him, "But at least we're only playing Hufflepuff. A few of those new members would probably wet themselves if they were to meet Slytherin already." he poured some more cereal into his bowl.

"That bad, is it?" asked Remus, helping himself to some toast. He had watched a few of the training sessions and things didn't look good, but he didn't think they'd been as bad as Sirius now said.

"Yup. But at least we've got James on the team. He's one of the few left able to do some decent work out there." he took a mouthful of cereal, "Oh, and Frank's good too. If we're lucky, he'll knock down some Hufflepuffs." he added.

They all went silent for a few minutes. Things weren't looking too good for the Gryffindor team this year. Several people had tried out for the team, but most of them were completely useless. As Captain, Sirius had been forced to base his decision on which players were less detestable than others, rather than any actual talent.

"I guess Arthur isn't too bad-" James began but was cut short by Sirius.

"No, but his broom is. And he said himself that he can't afford a new one, so that's that."

A few more minutes went before Sirius got up. "Time to go," he said, emptying his glass of pumpkin juice. James followed suit.

Remus got up as well. "We'll head down to the pitch, then," he said, giving Peter a nudge.

Sirius threw a Why Bother look his way. "You'll probably wish you'd stayed in the dormitory to finish your homework," he grumbled. "Honestly, I'd rather work on my Charms essay than get flattened by _Hufflepuff_, of all Houses."

"I'm sure they won't be _that _lousy, Padfoot. Now, put on a smile and be positive, or you'll destroy the little self-esteem some of them might have managed to gather. You're Captain. You've got to back them up at least a little, however hopeless it may seem." Remus pushed Sirius towards the doors. br

"Come on, our brooms are upstairs." James said as they left the Great Hall. "Why can't they get the shed down by the pitch fixed soon?" Sirius nodded. "I know. Would be quite practical to have everything down there instead of in our dorm. Anyway, come on." and they went to retrieve their equipment.

Remus and Peter continued towards the Quidditch pitch, the rest of the school beginning to file out of the castle. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and quite warm, taking into account that it was almost October.

"Hey Remus!" they heard someone call out as they were about to turn left to the pitch. They both turned around and faced Frank Longbottom hurrying towards them, carrying his Cleansweep 4 over his shoulder. "Where's the Boss?"

"He's getting his broom," Remus said. He lowered his voice quite a bit before continuing: "Tell me, Frank.. Are things really as lousy as Sirius is implying?"

Frank surveyed him for a few seconds before sighing.

"Well.. Maybe not _that_ bad, but quite close, I'm afraid. No offence to the new players, but this team is _not_ moving together."

"Give them some time... Perhaps things'll change once they get the hang of it."

"Perhaps. But things will have to change soon if we're going to have a chance for the Cup. We're playing Ravenclaw in December and we just can't lose that game."

"Things will have to change soon if we're to keep Sirius from going mad."

"It's a bit late for that, isn't it? I wouldn't worry though. James and I will be watching him carefully after the match today. We'll hold him back if he tries to drown himself in the showers or something equally drastic."

Remus hesitated, fully aware that Sirius had been known to act rashly when things didn't go his way. He had always been extreme when it came to Quidditch (and everything else, for that matter).

"Thanks, Frank," Remus said after a few seconds and with a twist of seriousness in his voice. "We're lucky we found him last time."

Frank chuckled. "I'd better go," he said. "See you afterwards, probably at Sirius' funeral, if we fail to stop him." He gave Remus a wink and headed down to the back of the pitch to meet up with the rest of the players.

Remus and Peter continued down towards the Gryffindor side of the arena and on their way he saw red and golden scarves and banners glimmering in the sunlight.

They climbed up the stairs and mingled together with the other Gryffindors. It was rather crowded, but the two boys managed to excuse themselves to two seats at the front. They squeezed in next to Hagrid.

"Hello Hagrid!" Remus shouted up to the abnormally large man. The Gryffindors were cheering so much that he had to raise his voice to be heard.

Hagrid moved over a bit and made place for the two boys.

"Ah, Remus, Peter! So ye didn' get caught in the shuffle," he motioned towards the staircase. "Excited 'bout the game, are ye?"

"Apprehensive, more like. Sirius said he'd be surprised if we won. He hoped something would happen though. Something along the lines of drama, if I'm not much mistaken." Remus grimaced.

"Ah, ye know Sirius. He doesn' trive unless there's a little action." said the huge man, then laughed a bit of his own joke. Remus smiled politely. He didn't know how right he was.

_That action he's seeking will lead to his death one day, I'm sure._

"Hey guys," came a familiar voice and he turned around, only to stand face to face with Lily.

"Hi Lil," he said, feeling himself blush. His reaction shocked him; her mere presence had never made him blush before. _Get a grip, man,_ he told himself.

Lily managed to squeeze herself in between he and Peter.

"How are Potter and Black? Are they nervous?" she asked, while pulling on a pair of mittens.

"They always worry about Quidditch." He indicated her mittens. "What do you need those for? It's not _that_ cold today."

"It is to me. I freeze whenever the temperature falls bellow ten degrees." She grinned and tightened the Gryffindor scarf around her neck to emphasize the point.

"Ah," he replied, inwardly cursing himself for such a stupid response. "Oh, brace yourself. Here they come."

Seven players in red and gold robes emerged from the locker room, brooms in tow. The loud roar from the Gryffindor supporters would've been enough to scare a flock of lions, surely.

Suddenly the voice of the referee was heard across the stadium.

"Welcome everyone, to the first game of the season; Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor!"

"GO, GO, GRYFFINDOR! GO, GO, GRYFFINDOR!" the supporters chanted in reply and Remus couldn't help but smile. He was very proud of his house and its team, even if some of the players didn't have a clue what they were doing.

"Kingsley's an impressive referee, I must say." Lily yelled next to him. "I wouldn't have expected him to be this loud." Remus nodded in agreement. Kingsley Shacklebolt was a fellow Gryffindor and outside of Quidditch matches, Remus had never heard him raise his voice.

"And they're off!" Kingsley announced excitedly as fourteen players kicked off from the ground.

Remus watched nervously. He crossed his fingers that James and Sirius wouldn't do anything too stupid, like risking their necks for instance, even though he knew it was a wasted effort.

The match was intense from the first second. It didn't take more than two minutes before Frank had almost knocked a Hufflepuff of the broom with his club, but that was about the only good thing that happened. Gryffindor had the quaffle for the entire first five minutes without scoring once.

"Come on, Sirius!" he cheered along with the other Gryffindors as Sirius sped towards the Hufflepuff-side of the pitch, making the first real attempt on scoring.

"And that's Black with the quaffle, great way of dodging Scart there, he's heading towards the hoops!" boomed Kingsley, but Remus was just listening with half an ear.

In the next second he groaned in disappointment, as did the other Gryffindors around him.

"Black is down, took a very nasty bludger to the head there! But look at this! He's after the quaffle again already! Remarkable chaser, this one! And it's Irivier with the quaffle, closing up on the Gryffindor hoops, gracefully dodging Longbottom and Weasly there, very well done indeed, I must say, and Irivier scores! Ten points for Hufflepuff!"

The bell echoed around the arena and the yellow and black crowd cheered loudly. Remus shook his head. He knew the match had only been going on for about seven minutes, but this was no good. The spirit in the Gryffindor team seemed very tense and desperate.

"That's the first time in six years I've seen Sirius knocked down in a match." Peter shouted next to Remus.

"There's a first time for everything, I guess, I just wish it hadn't been now!" he shouted back, watching Sirius closely. His friend was furious now, he could tell as much from were he was standing. And a furious Sirius was not a good thing. He was reckless enough already.

After twenty minutes the score was fifty-null to Hufflepuff. The Gryffindors on the sideline wasn't cheering as much as they had done to begin with and on the opposite side of the arena the Hufflepuffs were going wild with excitement.

"Keeper Linehan misses the quaffle by an inch, very bad luck. That's Hufflepuff's fifth goal, again by Irivier! What a great chaser the team has gotten there! But what's this? It looks like Black has called for a time-out now! The spirit seems to have disappeared for the Gryffindors. We'll be back in a minute." Kingsley announced as Sirius and the other Gryffindors formed a tight circle around their goalpost.

Remus peered through his muggle-binoculars. James looked practically livid as he came to a halt next to Sirius and Frank had a very dark look on his face. Sirius was gesticulating and shouting at his team members and several of them nodded, but none of them seemed any more at ease.

A minute later, they were off again, determined looks on all seven faces, Sirius and James being the gravest of them. This wasn't only a game to them. It was a question about life or death.

"We're back again after a minute break. Cotton has got the quaffle, passing to McGovern, back to Cotton, very nice bludger work from Longbottom there! The quaffle goes to Weasly, Black has it again, will he manage to score this time? He's got good speed on his Comet Two-Forty."

At this point, Remus grabbed hold of the rail in front of him.

"Barely ducking that bludger by Carlson there! Very nice move! Excellent control on his broom, Black's got. But Carlson is after him again, together with Everio! Will they get him? He's aiming for the hoops, and he scores! Keeper Hackett hasn't got a chance against this chaser when he gets as close as this! That's the ten first points for Gryffindor!"

"I thought Sirius would be knocked out by that one. It was a very close call." Lily admitted next to him and he nodded. He'd been sure of that too.

It was the only goal scored by Gryffindor for a long time. After another thirty minutes Hufflepuff had scored so many goals that if James catched the snitch now, Gryffindor would still lose by a good load of points.

"I guess this just isn't our... Oh dear! Look!" Lily gasped and pointed to James up in the air.

Remus quickly looked in the direction she was pointing and saw that James had picked up speed from where he was far above the Hufflepuff goalpost.

"He's seen the snitch!" she shouted, "Why's he taking it now? They will lose!"

"They will lose either way, look. Kelly has seen it as well." Remus nodded towards the other seeker.

"McGovern has the quaffle for Hufflepuff, passes it to Mathews, dodges Weasly without trouble, passes back to McGovern who speeds towards the Gryffindor goal and keeper Linehan, he - wait! Potter has seen the snitch!" A loud roar rose from the Gryffindor spectators.

"Potter goes for the snitch! But, oh dear, so does Kelly! Who will get it?"

Remus watched as the two seekers speeded towards the little, golden ball and found himself gripping the rails again.

"This will be one heck of race! It looks like Potter's Nimbus' 74 might be a bit faster, but then again Kelly is also very quick on his Starlight Sixtyeight! Who will give up? They're closing up on each other, certainly one will have to - "

The crash was a fact. 200 feet above the ground, the two seekers hit each other brutally.

Lily clasped her hands to her mouth in shock, strangling a shriek at the same time and Remus gasped along with the rest of the spectators. Kelly's broom broke in half as they hit each other, instantly sending him flying off it and after what felt like hours he hit the ground bellow the Gryffindor spectators with a sickening thud.

"That was one nasty crash for Kelly there! And Potter is swaying dangerously as well! He seems to be knocked unconscious!"

James wavered on his broom for a few seconds, then he slid off and went tumbling to the ground in a bundle of gold and scarlet robes, landing on top of Kellys' broken broom.

"Oh no!" Lily exclaimed and looked at the two players on the ground, mortified and stunned. Remus however, was about to make his way down.

"Come!" he said, grabbing her arm and pulled her towards the stairs. Peter followed suit, having the words "complete shock" written all over his face.

They ran down the stairs, Remus taking three steps in one, and out on the field. Madame Hooch, players, including Sirius, Frank and Arthur, and a few of the teachers were already hunched over the two fallen players, eying them with worried looks. Madame Pomfrey came running shortly behind them.

Dumbledore rose from where he had been standing by James' fallen body and stepped forward as he saw the three students running towards him. They stopped in front of him, not daring to pass without his word.

"Professor! Is James..? Are they..?" Remus managed to ask between gasps of breath and at the same time trying to look past the Headmaster to see what was going on.

"They will be taken care of, that is for sure. Right now I'm afraid there is nothing any of you can do."

"They're going to be okay, won't they, Professor?" Peter's voice was shaking.

"Madame Pomfrey will do all she can to ensure they will." The headmaster replied, receiving mortified looks from all three of them. It surely wasn't a good thing when Dumbledore didn't tell them at once that the players would be okay.

"Please, Headmaster, can we talk to Sirius?" Remus nodded towards his friend who was bending down next to James. Dumbledore took a step to the side, allowing them to hurry forward.

Frank and Arthur stood a bit away from the scene and they stopped next to them for a sec.

"Did you see what happened?" asked Frank darkly. Lily began to explain, but Remus quickly excused himself and hurried towards Sirius, who rose when he saw Remus. Shock was lingering in his eyes also.

Remus stopped abruptly as he saw James on the stretcher a few feet away. He looked nothing but terrible. There were cuts and bruises on his face and his robes were stained with blood from where he had landed on the splintered broom, which had belonged to Kelly. br

"Dear God, Sirius," he muttered, "how - " Sirius just shook his head.

"I have no idea, man. One minute he had spotted the snitch, the next - boom!" he shook his head again. "I can't understand how they couldn't see each other. I mean, it's not like there are a lot of obstacles blocking your sight up there in the air, is it?"

They stood in silence for a few moments before Madam Pomfrey disappeared with the two stretchers floating silently in the air behind her.

"Shall we go in?" he suggested.

"Yeah." muttered Sirius. Remus placed a hand on his shoulder. "You okay, mate?" he asked quietly. Sirius nodded. "Yeah," he said again and began to walk, but Remus held him back.

"Sirius, stop kidding me and sit down for a moment. You're shaking like a leaf." Remus held his shoulder firmly and pushed him against one of the benches next to the pitch. The other four hurried over towards them, worry written on their face.

"Sirius, what's wrong?" asked Arthur.

"Nothing.." his voice trailed off and he covered his face with his hands.

"Padfoot -"

"I'm fine, Peter. Just a bit out of it." he snapped a bit too fast, making Peter flinch.

"Well.." Frank looked at Remus, receiving a meaningful glance. "We'll leave you two to it. See you later on, okay?" Sirius didn't answer, so Remus just nodded.

He sat down next to Sirius as the others disappeared. They said nothing for a while.

"Why was he so reckless, Moony?" asked Sirius, looking out on the pitch.

"Because he lives for this game, Padfoot," he answered, "just like you."

"I would never have gone as far as that." he shook his head. Remus smiled weakly.

"Forgive me for disagreeing, but I think you would've, Sirius." when Sirius didn't answer, he continued, "you're both obsessed with this game, and that's fine. But maybe now you see what kind of state you leave your friends in every time anything happens to any of you. I don't think I've been as worried before a game as today. And why's that, do you think?"

Sirius gave a short chuckle, knowing exactly what Remus was referring to. "Because we've both been very anxious about loosing it, and we swore to do whatever it took to win it." he answered quietly. "I'm sorry, Moony. I guess it took me six years to see the dangers of this game. Didn't take you as long, as usual."

"It didn't because I was watching it from the sideline, Padfoot, not because I was smarter or anything. You see the great things about the game. I hardly see anything but the scary things. Neither is perfect."

"I guess not."

Silence fell over them again, Sirius seemed to be deep in thought.

"I could've been less annoyed with James during that time-out." he said suddenly.

"What did you tell him?" asked Remus, instantly fearing the worst.

"To catch the snitch or die trying." he let out a deep sigh of regret.

"He won't die, Padfoot." said Remus, trying to strangle a smile. Sirius was the biggest drama-queen sometimes.

"I know, I just... Maybe if I hadn't said it like that, he wouldn't have been so foolhardy," at this point Remus couldn't stop himself and let out a short laugh, "Sorry, Padfoot, but you're not the one to be speaking of foolhardiness. You're the King of Rash Actions. And the Queen of Drama."

"Heh.. Probably. Still though -"

"Knock it off, Sirius." Remus broke him off. "This is in no way your fault, okay? James isn't one of your admirers. He wouldn't do whatever just because you said so, not like your fans who would've been thrilled if you asked them to jump of off the Astronomy Tower or dive to the bottom of the lake." Sirius laughed. "You're probably right."

"I do believe I am. How's your head after that bludger, by the way?" asked Remus as they got up.

"Oh, it's fine now. Might want one of Lily's muggle painkillers before bedtime though." he grinned and pulled Remus into a hug. "Thanks, Moony. For making me feel better." Remus just nodded. "It's nothing, Padfoot." he smiled, releasing himself from Sirius' embrace.

"You know what will be the most upsetting thought on James' mind when he wakes up?" Sirius chuckled.

"What?"

"That Hufflepuff won the match." Both of them laughed and walked towards the castle.


End file.
